Healthcare Michigan July 2014

In this Issue... July 2014 Volume 30, No. 7 Page 3 Rights of Physicians and Patients Page 4-5 Spotlight on Health Systems Page 2 Consolidation is Rampant, by Peter Levine www.HealthcareMichigan.com If you offer it, will they come? Insurers and some U.S.... More

In this Issue... July 2014 Volume 30, No. 7 Page 3 Rights of Physicians and Patients Page 4-5 Spotlight on Health Systems Page 2 Consolidation is Rampant, by Peter Levine www.HealthcareMichigan.com If you offer it, will they come? Insurers and some U.S. senators have proposed offering cheaper, skimpier "copper" plans on the health insurance marketplaces to encourage uninsured stragglers to buy. But consumer advocates and some policy experts say that focusing on reducing costs on the front end exposes consumers to unacceptably high out-ofpocket costs if they get sick. The trade-off, they say, may not be worth it. "It's a false promise of affordability," says Sabrina Corlette, project director at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms. "If you ever have to use the plan, you won't be able to afford it." Coverage on the health insurance marketplaces now is divided into five types of plans that require different levels of cost-sharing by consumers. All the plans cover 10 Less